O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path, and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
Psalm 139:1-3 (ESV)
God knows you
One characteristic of God is His omniscience – God is an all-knowing God. There is nothing He does not know. He knows the past, the present and the future. He knows the details of how the universe began. He knows all scientific truths that we have known and will still be known in the future. He alone can explain all the world’s greatest mysteries that we do not have any explanation. But most importantly, at least on a personal level, God knows you.
God knowing us does not stop us from the freedom to choose what we want to do with our lives. Knowing and choosing are different. We have the moral capacity to either follow and obey Him or reject His offer of love and friendship with us. One thing that God delights in is to have beings like us to freely choose and love Him, something, in a way, God does not have total control over. He could have made thousands and millions of robots programmed to obey and worship Him, but that is not what He wanted with us. His plan is to share His goodness and glory with all those who freely choose Him. His abundant goodness and grace are overflowing, and He desires to endow that grace to us.
Knowing that God knows us completely can lead us to despair. He knows our weaknesses, sins, hidden motives, duplicity, and dark past. He knows our thoughts even before we think of them. We might think that because of our “badness,” we are not worthy to be with Him – and that is true. The difference, though, is that God looks at us with His eyes, not ours – and He looks at us in love, forgiveness, tenderness, and forbearance. He knows we are weak as we carry our fallen human nature. Sin clings to us like how iron is attracted to a magnet. But despite our sinfulness, He offers us a way to reconcile with Him through repentance on our part and forgiveness on His part. He loves us deeply and continuously extends a hand of friendship to us, even at our darkest sins and mistakes.
God knows our hopes and desires
Knowing God knows everything can also lead us to joy and peace. God knows our every need. God knows our hopes and desires – not that He will give us everything we want. God is not like an indulgent grandfather who always keeps us happy; He is more like a father who cares for our good now and the future – and sometimes that might involve pain and suffering. Like a father who brings his child to a dentist, he knows that short-term pain from the hands of a dentist is better than long-term problems of tooth pain and decay. So, even during hard times, we know that God is with us and will not abandon us.
Knowing that God knows us wholeheartedly assures us of our future. Our hope is in Him, who knows what will happen. We can walk daily in victory, knowing the Lord of Lords is walking with us in love and care. There is no need to be afraid of the future because our loving Father is already there. There is no need to be anxious about our needs, for our God shall provide according to His richness – we only have to seek Him and put Him first, and He will take care of the rest.
Not only does God know us deeply, but He also knows everyone around us, too. He knows everyone’s hearts and motives. God will judge those who did us harm and evil according to their works. We do not have to seek revenge for those who have harmed us in the past – He will deal with them now or in the future. We do not need to envy the evil ones for their fortune and fame – those are like castles built on sinking sand. God will reward everyone based on what they have done in their lives.
God has a beautiful plan for us
Lastly, God is preparing a banquet for all those who choose to follow Him. One thing we can be sure of is that the fruit of discipleship far outweighs the pains and sufferings we encounter in our daily lives. God has a beautiful plan for us – to be with Him, with all His goodness, richness, majesty, glory, and holiness – for all eternity. God knows us from the beginning and designed us to join His company forever.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)
Top image credit: Embraced by the love of Christ, artwork © by Kevin Carden, from ChristianPhotoshop.com. Used with permission.
Tom Caballes is a National Coordinator of the Lamb of God, a community of the Sword of the Spirit with seven branches located throughout New Zealand. Tom and his wife Mhel and their two daughters [with his son-in-law and grand-daughter] live in Wellington, New Zealand.